Sony bumps PSPGo back to $200

By
Hayley Tsukayama

After slashing the price of its PlayStation Portable handheld late last month, Sony did the same for its PSP Go last week, dropping the price to $150 from $199.99. But now, Sony is back to saying the PSP Go retails for $200.

Sony is expected to drop a new handheld, code-named the NGP (next-generation portable), by the holiday season and has also announced the Xperia Play, a gaming smartphone. The price cuts made sense in terms of getting rid of old inventory before the new handhelds launch, particularly as the PSP Go is not well-loved among gamers. The price hike is more than a little baffling.

However, since the PSP is currently priced $70 below the PSP Go, it seems likely that Sony will make the Go's price cut official in the near future.

Sometimes I can't help but feel that Sony made every effort to kill off any potential the PSPgo had. (I bought one for review purposes)

First, they introduced it for a lot more than most consumers were willing to pay and pretended it was a great deal on a premium handheld.

Then they messed up the release schedule, I had friends who would pick up a game on UMD and I'd have to wait until PlayStation updates were available. Last year, this meant waiting until Thursday evening, and that was if the game was released at all. Even some of the heavy-hitters like Kingdom Hearts didn't make their way to the PSPgo.

It's a bummer, because the system had so much potential. I like the idea of carrying around a PSP with no UMDs.

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